Chhetris dominated the position of the senior officers of the Nepali Army comprising 74.4% of total senior officers in 1967. Similarly, Chhetris composed of 38.1%, 54.3% and 55.3% of the senior officers in the year 2003, 2004 and 2007 respectively.[27]

Clans & surnames

Demographics

The 2011 Nepal census recorded Chhetris as the largest Hindu adherents in the nation with 43,65,113 people which is 99.3% of total Chhetri population.[1] Those Chhetri who follow Hinduism may also follow Buddhism. The ancient religion of the Chhetri is Masto which uses nature worship and can still be seen in western Nepal's Karnali district and in India's Gorkhaland. In Nepal's hill districts the Chhetri population rises to 41% compared to 31% Brahmin and 27% other castes. This greatly exceeds the Kshatriya portion in most regions with predominantly Hindu populations.[29][30]

As per the Public Service Commission of Nepal, Brahmins (33.3%) and Chhetris (20.01%) were two largest caste group to obtain governmental jobs in the fiscal year 2017-18 even though 45% governmental seats are reserved for women, indigenous groups, Madhesis, Dalits, people with disability and those from the backward regions.[31]

Present day

A 21st century Chhetri family

Chhetri together with Bahun and thakuri falls under Khas Arya, who are denied quota and reservations in civil services and other sectors due to their history of socio-political dominance in Nepal.[32] There are no quotas for the Khas community who fall under Bahun-Chhetri-thakuri hierarchy.[33] As per the explanation of legal provisions of Constitution of Nepal, Khas Arya comprises the Brahmin, Kshetri, Thakur and Sanyasi (Dashnami) communities.[34] But they are allowed reservation in federal parliament and provincial legislature.[35] The European Union has been accused of direct interference, creating ethnic strife and negative discrimination towards Khas Arya due to their recommendation to remove the reservation for Khas Aryas.[36][35]

1.
Nepal
–
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022

2.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety

3.
Hinduism
–
Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents

4.
Gorkha Kingdom
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Gorkhā was a former kingdom in the confederation of 24 states known as Chaubisi rajya located in present-day western Nepal. The Kingdom of Gorkha extended from the Marshyangdi River in the west to the Trishuli River in the east, the inhabitants of Gorkha were known as Gorkhali. Shah/Jha/Khan controlled whole area of Ganges and Brahmaputra basin or simply whole land between Himalayas and Vindhyas, soon the empire divided into several kingdoms. Mughal Empire, Bengal and Gorakhpur formed after division, from 1736, the Gorkhalis engaged in a campaign of expansion begun by King Nara Bhupal Shah, which was continued by his son, King Prithvi Narayan Shah and grandson Prince Bahadur Shah. Over the years, they conquered huge tracts of land to the east and west of Gorkha, among their conquests, the most important and valuable acquisition was the wealthy Newar confederacy of Nepal Mandala centered in the Kathmandu Valley. Starting in 1745, the Gorkhalis mounted a blockade in a bid to starve the population into submission, the Newars appealed to the British East India Company for help, and in 1767, it sent an expedition under Captain Kinloch which ended in failure. The three Newar capitals of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur fell to the Gorkhalis between 1768 and 1769, the Gorkhali king subsequently moved his capital to Kathmandu. In 1788, the Gorkhalis turned their attention north and invaded Tibet and they seized the border towns of Kyirong and Kuti, and forced the Tibetans to pay an annual tribute. When the Tibetans stopped paying it, the Gorkhalis invaded Tibet again in 1791 and this time the Chinese army came to Tibets defence and advanced close to Kathmandu. The alarmed Gorkhalis appealed to the British East India Company for help, eventually, the Gorkhalis were forced to sign a peace treaty under which they had to pay tribute to Beijing every five years. The Gorkha dominion reached its height at the beginning of the 19th century, extending all along the Himalayan foothills from Kumaon and they were made to return much of the occupied territories after their defeat in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The Gorkha dominion continued to be known as Gorkha Rajya until the beginning of the 20th century, since the 1930s, the name Nepal was used to refer to the entire country as the capital was located in Kathmandu. The name Gorkha Sarkar was also changed to Nepal government, similarly, the Gorkhali language was renamed as Nepali in 1933. The term Gorkhali in the national anthem entitled Shreeman Gambhir was changed to Nepali in 1951. The government newspaper, launched in 1901, is known as Gorkhapatra. The Shah dynasty ruled Nepal until 2008 when it became a republic following a peoples movement, today, Gorkha District, roughly corresponding to the old kingdom, is one of the 75 administrative districts of Nepal. The community name is actually Gorkha/ Gorkhali as it was also called even in Nepal. Not to be confused with the inhabitants of the old Gorkha Kingdom only and their history goes back to the Anglo-Gorkha War and the Sugauli Treaty of 1816

5.
Demographics of Nepal
–
Nepalese also referred to as Nepalis or Nepali people are the Indo-Aryan and Sino-Tibetan citizens of Nepal under the provisions of Nepali nationality law. The country is home to people of different national origins. As a result, people of Nepal do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, although citizens make up the majority of Nepalese, non-citizen residents, dual citizen, and expatriates may also claim a Nepalese identity. Nepalese are descendants of migrants from parts of India, Kashmir, Tibet, and parts of Burma and Yunnan, Nepal is a multicultural and multiethnic country. Kathmandu Valley, in the hill region, constitutes a small fraction of the nations area but is the most densely populated. In the 2011 census, Nepals population was approximately 26 million people with a growth rate of 1. 35%. In 2016, the median age was approximately 25 years old. Only 4. 4% of the population is estimated to be more than 65 years old, 61% of the population is between 15 and 64 years old, and 34. 6% is younger than 14 years. In 2011, the Birth rate is estimated to be 22.17 births per 1,000 people with an infant mortality rate of 46 deaths per 1,000 live births. Compared to the infant mortality rate in 2006 of 48 deaths per 1000 live births, infant mortality rate in Nepal is higher in rural regions at 44 deaths per 1000 live births, whereas in urban regions the IMR is lower at 40 deaths per 1000 live births. This difference is due to a lack of delivery assistance services in rural communities compared to their counterparts who have better access to hospitals. Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 67.44 years for females and 64.94 years for males, the mortality rate is estimated to be 681 deaths per 100,000 people. Net migration rate is estimated to be 61 migrants per 100,000 people, according to the 2011 census,65. 9% of the total population is literate. The population of Nepal has been steadily rising recent decades, in the June 2001 census, there was a population of about 23 million in Nepal. The population increased by 5 million from the last census, the rate is 2. 3%. The current population is roughly 30 million which contributes to an increase of about 3 million people every 5 years. Source, Births and deaths Structure of the population, Total Fertility Rate and Crude Birth Rate, The following demographic statistics are from the 2011 Nepal Demographic, the following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Nationality Noun, Nepali, Nepalese, Gorkhali Adjective, Nepali, Nepalese, Gorkhali Religions Hindu 81. 34%, Buddhist 9. 04%, Muslim 4. 38%, Kirant 3. 04%, according to the 2001 national census,92 different living languages are spoken in Nepal

6.
Upanayana
–
Upanayana is one of the traditional saṃskāras that marked the acceptance of a student by a guru and an individuals entrance to a school in Hinduism. The tradition is widely discussed in ancient Sanskrit texts of India, the sacred thread is received by the boy during this ceremony, that he continues wearing across his chest thereafter. The upanayana was restricted in many medieval Indian texts to the three of the four varnas of society — brahmins, kshatriyas and vaishyas. However, Vedic period texts such as the Baudhāyana Grihyasutra encouraged all members of society to undergo the upanayana, women were encouraged to undergo upanayana in ancient India before they started Vedic studies or before their wedding. Upanayana literally means the act of leading to or near and it is an important and widely discussed samskara in ancient Sanskrit text. The rite of passage symbolizes the leading or drawing towards the self of a child, in a school and it is a ceremony in which a guru accepts and draws a child towards knowledge and initiates the second birth that is of the young mind and spirit. Upanayana is the rite of passage for the start of education of writing, numbers, reading, Vedangas, arts. The Upanayana rite of passage was also important to the teacher, Upanayana was an elaborate ceremony, that included rituals involving the family, the child and the teacher. A boy receives during this ceremony a sacred thread called Yajñopaveetam that he wears, the Yajñopavita ceremony announced that the child had entered into formal education. In the modern era, the Upanayana rite of passage is open to anyone at any age, the education of a student was not limited to ritual and philosophical speculations found in the Vedas and the Upanishads. They extended to many arts and crafts, which had their own, aitareya Brahmana, Agamas and Puranas literature of Hinduism describe these as Shilpa Sastras. They extend to all aspects of culture, such as the sculptor, the potter, the perfumer, the wheelwright, the painter, the weaver, the architect, the dancer. Ancient Indian texts assert that the number of the arts is unlimited, the training of these began from childhood and included studies about dharma, culture, reading, writing, mathematics, geometry, colors, tools, as well as traditions. The rites of passage during apprentice education varied in the respective guilds, in Hindu traditions, a human being is born at least twice — once at physical birth and second at intellectual birth through teachers care. The first is marked through the Jatakarman sanskara ritual, the second is marked through Upanayanam or Vidyarambha rites of passage, many medieval era texts discuss Upanayana in the context of three varnas — Brahmins, Kshtreyas and Vaishyas. Several texts such as Sushruta Sutrasthana, however, also include Sudras entering schools, the ceremony was typically performed at age eight among the Brahmins, at age 11 among the Kshatriyas, and age 12 among Vaishyas. Apastamba Gryha Sutra, in verse 1.1.1.27, places an age limit of 24 for the Upanayana ceremony. In some regions, in times, boys and girls undergo the tradition of Upanayana initiation when they start their formal schooling

7.
Hindu
–
Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion

8.
Kukri
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The kukri or khukuri is a Nepalese knife with an inwardly curved blade, similar to a machete, used as both a tool and as a weapon in Nepal. Traditionally it was, and in many cases still is, the utility knife of the Nepalese people. The khukuri often appears in Nepalese heraldry and is used in traditional rituals such as wedding ceremonies. In India, it has also hypothesized that the kukri was the origin of the kopis. Similar instruments have existed in several forms throughout South Asia and were used both as weapons and as tools, such as for sacrificial rituals, burton writes that the British Museum housed a large kukri-like ancient Nepal falchion inscribed with writing in Pali. Among the oldest existing kukri are those belonging to Drabya Shah, the kukri came to be known to the Western world when the East India Company came into conflict with the growing Gorkha Kingdom, culminating in the Gurkha War of 1814–1816. It gained literary attention in the 1897 novel Dracula by Irish author Bram Stoker, all Gurkha troops are issued with two kukri, a Service No.1 and a Service No.2, in modern times members of the Brigade of Gurkhas receive training in its use. The weapon gained fame in the Gurkha War and its use through both World War I and World War II enhanced its reputation among both Allied troops and enemy forces. Its acclaim was demonstrated in North Africa by one units situation report and it reads, Enemy losses, ten killed, ours nil. Elsewhere during the Second World War, the kukri was purchased and used by other British, Commonwealth and US troops training in India, including the Chindits, the notion of the Gurkha with his kukri carried on through to the Falklands War. On 2 September 2010, Bishnu Shrestha, a retired Indian Army Gurkha soldier, alone and armed only with a kukri and he was reported to have killed three of the bandits, wounded eight more and forced the rest of the band to flee. A contemporaneous report in the Times of India, that includes an interview with Shrestha, the kukri is designed primarily for chopping. The shape varies a great deal from being quite straight to highly curved with angled or smooth spines, there are substantial variations in dimensions and blade thickness depending on intended tasks as well as the region of origin and the smith that produced it. As a general guide the spines vary from 5–10 mm at the handle, a kukri designed for general purpose is commonly 40–45 cm in overall length and weighs approximately 450–900 grams. Larger examples are impractical for use and are rarely found except in collections or as ceremonial weapons. Smaller ones are of limited utility, but very easy to carry. Another factor that affects its weight and balance is the construction of the blade, to reduce weight while keeping strength the blade might be hollow forged, or a fuller is created. Kukris are made several different types of fuller including, tin chira, dui chira, angkhola

Upanayana (IAST: Upanayanam) is one of the traditional saṃskāras (rites of passage) that marked the acceptance of a …

Image: A yagyopaveet sanskar upanayana samskara in Nepal

A boy during his upanayana ritual. The thin, yellow Yajnopavita thread runs from left shoulder to waist. Note the munja grass girdle around the waist. The peepal tree twig in his right hand marks his entry into the Brahmacharya stage of life.

The Nepalese Army (Nepali: नेपाली सेना) or Gorkhali Army (Nepali: गोर्खाली सेना) is the armed military Land warfare …

Nepalese Army Lance Cpl. Nanu Tamang, with the Birendra Peace Operation Training Center, escorts a role player at the vehicle checkpoint training lane during Khaan Quest 2013 at Five Hills Training Area 130807-M-DR618-122